Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) by 71.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 151,484 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in ONE Gas were worth $3,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in ONE Gas by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 4,721 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of ONE Gas by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 16,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in ONE Gas by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in ONE Gas during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,825,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in ONE Gas in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $768,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on OGS shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of ONE Gas from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of ONE Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 20th. UBS Group began coverage on ONE Gas in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $61.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on ONE Gas from $61.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ONE Gas has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.69.

ONE Gas Price Performance

OGS stock traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.85. 176,596 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 426,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.66. ONE Gas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $82.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $63.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.63.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $758.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. ONE Gas had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 8.37%. ONE Gas’s revenue was down 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

ONE Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

ONE Gas Profile

ONE Gas, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a regulated natural gas distribution company in the United States. The company provides natural gas distribution services to approximately 2.3 million customers in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. It serves residential, commercial, and transportation customers.